Outdoor sponsored events and activities have gained in popularity over the last several years. During sponsored events and activities such as carnivals, fairs, sporting events, trade shows or the like, various areas are partitioned off to define the area for a particular activity or event. Sporting events sponsored by local and/or national advertisers are common year-round. These sponsored activities include basketball, volleyball, tennis, hockey, bike racing, skating courses, obstacle courses, etc. Many of these sponsored activities are one- or two-day events and are commonly situated in a park, a parking lot, a city street, stadium, etc. At such events, the event organizer is typically required to assemble temporary facilities for the particular sponsored event or events. Typically, metal or wooden fences are temporarily assembled to partition off various areas for the events. Structures for concession stands, amusement activities, information booths, retail stands, etc. also have to be temporarily assembly for the event. Collapsible billboards, movie screens, television stands and fences are also temporarily assembled to support advertising and promotional displays during such events. Such structures are typically wooden and/or metal structures. It is not uncommon for an event organizer to spend several days preparing a site for a single day event. Events which require a large structure to be assembled require even more time and expense to set up. The assembly and disassembly of such structures requires a substantial amount of time. Although these outdoor sponsored events have become very popular with the public, the complexity and cost of setting up and sponsoring such events has caused many sponsors to limit the number of sponsored events and/or seek other, less expensive and complex activities to sponsor and/or reduce the complexity or such events.
Organized sports venues such as, but not limited to, college sports, professional sports, the Olympics, etc. also have promotional displays for the fans prior to, during and after the event. For instance, many venues have pre-game festivities. These pre-game festivities may merely include a few displays and/or booths, or can be a complex as a carnival or an Olympic village. During a sporting event, various displays and booths may be setup to promote the sponsors, promote the sporting event, sell merchandise, etc. Many sporting events have half-time shows which typically include one or more bands. These events may also include stages and other structures to enhance visual effect at such shows. Post game festivities may merely include a few displays and/or booths, or be a more complex event. The setup of the displays, booths and other structures at such events takes time and can be costly to store and/or transport such structures. During half-time events for large sport events (e.g., Super Bowl, college foot bowl games, World Cup soccer games, etc.) and/or sport ceremonies (e.g., Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, international sport events, etc.), highly sophisticated shows can occur that involve many structures, display boards, etc. Due to the time constraints for such half-time events and/or shows, many of the structures have to be pre-made and stored in a location close to the half-time events and/or shows. Many facilities cannot store large numbers of structures, thus the size and sophistication of such half-time events and shows is limited.
Inflatable structures, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,937,586; 5,555,679; D413,169 and D365,400, have been successfully used at various sporting events. These inflatable structures are formed into booths to sell food and merchandise; booths to house skill games; gaming structures such as obstacle courses, hockey rinks, volleyball courts, basketball courts, etc.; partition structures; and/or advertising displays. Due to the ability of these inflatable structures to take on both simple and complex shapes, the ease to which such structures can be transported, the swiftness in which such structures can be erected and taken down, the durability of such structures, and the relative low cost of transporting and maintaining such structures, inflatable structures have gained increasing popularity at such events.
Sponsors of such events have continuously strived to attract the attention of consumers at such events. As such, the sponsors have requested larger and/or more complex designs and structures so as to stand out at such events. Multimedia has also been used to attract the attention of consumers. Although inflatable structures have been able to meet much of the demand for size and complexity, the merger of multimedia and inflatable structures has yet to emerge.
In view of the high cost and complexity of setting up temporary facilities for outdoor sponsored events and to attract consumers to such events, there is continues to be a need for a device which can be quickly and cost effectively assembled, a device which is versatile enough to be used in a variety of outdoor events, and a device which can attract the attention of consumers at such events.